The attraction was mutual.

The subtext of that appeal is class.

But an undisciplined appeal to history risks becoming a confusing way to express opinions.

Now Russia s invasion of Georgia has shattered even the illusion of attraction.

It could also help lessen the tendency of some governments to gravitate ever closer towards the booming Chinese economy.

But, judging by the appetite shown worldwide for this narrative, it seems clear that identification with such adventures is almost universal.

Palin s symbolic appeal to a certain group of female voters is important to understand, and we must respect the rage and hunger that it reflects. The subtext of that appeal is class.

This is bound to involve greater redistribution if the hundreds of millions of Indians who remain extremely poor are not to become alienated from their country s success story and pulled toward populist extremism.

And indeed, there are now three academic articles in which they've looked at this attraction, which may only last for a second, but it's a definite attraction, and either this same brain region, this reward system, or the chemicals of that reward system are involved.

A French No would sit well with the Union s newer members from Eastern Europe, who know Chirac is not their friend, and who are more attracted by promises of rapid economic growth than social protection and corporate state mischief.

In his triangular theory of love, psychologist Robert Sternberg theorizes that love is a mix of three components some (1) passion, or physical attraction (2) intimacy, or feelings of closeness and (3) commitment, involving the decision to initiate and sustain a relationship.

History can be an essential compass when past experience provides unambiguous headings. But an undisciplined appeal to history risks becoming a confusing way to express opinions.